If information is valid, this means that it is true. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell what is true and what is not. For example, if you wanted to find out the most popular sport in UK, an Internet search will show you that:

  •          ‘Football is the most popular sport in the UK.”
  •          ‘Fishing is the most popular sport in the UK.’

So which of these facts is true?

One way to find out to look at the hits you get back from a search engine and to look at the links to see where the come from. For example, a Google Search for ‘most popular sport in the UK’ will show you links that say it is football and links that says it is fishing. By reading the descriptions listed in the search engine, you will see that these links are to:

  •          Website run by local football clubs and local fishing clubs
  •          Online articles from well-known newspapers
  •          Government research websites
  •          Forums and chat rooms about football or fishing


Some of these sites say it is football, some say it is fishing, so we still don’t know. We could probably trust the information from the newspapers and the Government more than we could from the clubs or chat rooms.

If you can’t work out who is behind a website, go to the home page, or the ‘About Us’ to see if you can find out who they are and why they have a website. If that doesn’t help then look at whether there are links from the site to other sites that you have heard of. If there are links to well-known sites, you may trust this site more. If all the links are advertising you might just think that they are trying to sell you something.


Bias

Another thing to look is at is whether there is likely to be any bias in the information. For example, some websites might have a particular interest in saying one thing or another. In this case, the websites of local clubs, forums and chat rooms may not be reliable as the information is given by people who love their particular sport. It’s a hit like arguing with a friend over which is the best hand on the planet or what is the best programme on television.

The information may be biased because the website is trying to persuade you to have a certain opinion, or maybe it is just trying to sell you something. For example, one of the sites that says fishing is most popular is a travel business that arranges fishing trips.


Up-to-date Information

Another check is to see how up-to-date the information is. The most popular sport in the UK this year might not be the same as last year. Information can change quickly. For example, if you were trying to find the cheapest flight to Spain, that could be changing every minute.
Some information does not change and this makes it easier to check. For example, if you were asked to find out when Henry VII was king or who invented the light bulb, then these facts do not change over time.